One type of cable connector is the automatic splice. The automatic splice is commonly used by utility linemen to quickly splice ends of suspended cable together. Automatic splices generally include a tapered clamp body or shell to house a pair of jaw assemblies and a spring. The jaws are shaped to cooperate with the clamp body so that a cable gripping surface applies an ever increasing clamping force on the cable as it travels through the clamp body towards a cable receiving opening.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,334,056 to Hlinsky, discloses a relatively complex automatic cable connector configured for electrical and mechanical or only mechanical connections. The device includes a hammer 16 that is moved to a cocked position by the end of an inserted cable 20. A hammer spring 18 is compressed during the cocking motion. When the cocked position is reached, a frangible abutment 64 fractures and the hammer 18 is free to move independently of the cable. The spring 18 drives the hammer 16 into tapered gripping jaws 38 with an impact that firmly grips the jaws onto the cable 20. Since the installer must forcibly compress the spring 18, the stored energy of the spring 18 is comparatively weak, and is limited by the installer's strength and the column strength of the cable being inserted. Therefore, the jaws 38 are often prevented from developing full engagement with the cable 20. Also, the cable 20 tends to pull out of the jaws 38. This pull out may occur during the installation procedure, requiring the automatic cable connector to be discarded.
If the device is double-ended and utilized for a splicing operation, if one end of the connector is unsuccessfully installed, the connector must be cut off. The connector cannot be disassembled. This situation leaves the installer with too short a length of cable. Two additional connectors are then required, one to replace the failed connector, and the other to splice in an additional length of cable to replace the portion that was cut out with the original unsuccessful splice. Furthermore, the connector may hold sufficiently to allow installation to proceed, but, without full insertion. In this event, the line may be energized, but, there is still a propensity for the splice to fail under wind, vibration, ice, or other additional loading that may occur during future use.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,554,387 to Saul discloses another cable connector. In this connector, a wire 30 is inserted into the tapered end of a housing 7. The wire 30 pushes a set of jaws 10 backward. The jaws 10 expand to permit passage of wire 30. As shown in FIG. 2, the wire end, after passing through the jaws 10, enters trigger element 20. Continued insertion of the wire 30 causes the wire end to engage the conical surface defined by the inclined sleeve portions of the trigger element 20. Thus, the inclined sleeve portions expand in a radial direction so that hooks 23 disengage from the flange 17. This disengagement releases trigger element 20. Consequently, spring 26 biases the trigger element 20 into engagement with jaws 10. The spring 26 further functions to urge the jaws 10 into the tapered end of the housing to effect initial gripping between the jaws 10 and the wire 30. One drawback of this device is that it is relatively susceptible to premature triggering or firing. In a splicing operation, premature triggering could occur on one end of the device, leaving the other end operational. Since this condition would not be readily apparent to the installer, the unit might accidentally be installed on the non-triggered end, if one exists, only to find the other end triggered. Therefore, removal of the automatic splice is necessary as previously described.
Accordingly, in order to address these disadvantages, there have been various additional attempts to provide improved cable clamps. Examples of such are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,817,909 to Dobrinski et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,206,736 to DeFrance et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,193,565 to Herron; U.S. Pat. No. 5,683,273 to Garver et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,278,353 to Buchholz et al.; 4,698,031 to Dawson; U.S. Pat. No. 4,362,352 to Hawkins et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 3,852,850 to Filhaber; U.S. Pat. No. 3,205,300 to Becker; U.S. Pat. No. 2,567,374 to Greco; U.S. Pat. No. 2,554,387 to Saul; U.S. Pat. No. 2,138,913 to Fotsch; Des. 278,230 to Kominiak et al. Although some of the features of those cable clamps ease the disadvantages described above, a continuing need exists for an improved trigger actuated cable clamp which is relatively simple to manufacture, limits pre-triggering of the device, and prevents mechanical failure.